Best Of 5/7
The best/most popular tracks posted on SC this past week. And yes, I’m choosing pictures at random now.
Feist – Let It Die & Lonely Lonely.mp3
!!! (Chk Chk Chk) – Must Be The Moon.mp3
Radiohead – Down Is The New Up.mp3
Björk – Declare Independence.mp3
Feist | Live On Jay Leno
Last night you might have caught Feist performing One, Two, Three, Four on Jay Leno. Personally, I didn’t bother, instead opting to check out the youtube video this morning. Maybe it’s just me, but the performance seemed a little underwhelming. It moved a little faster than the album version, with too-quiet instrumentation. The mixture didn’t exactly work well, but the worst part was actually Feist herself; she just didn’t seem that into it. The Reminder is great, but this performance just doesn’t capture any of it’s charm.
Feist | Black Session
Exactly how many color-coded secret albums does Feist have? A month or two after discovering the Red Demos, I ran across her Black Session this past weekend. Black Sessions are live recordings, broadcast on the French radio station France Inter during the C’est Lenoir show. Artists like Pulp, Radiohead, Weezer, and apparently, Feist have recorded Black Sessions over the years. These Black Sessions are usually released as extremely limited edition CDs (think 250), and given away as bonuses with other CDs, or sold by France Inter. I’m not sure about the others, but Feist’s Black Session is brilliant. She performs a smattering of songs that would later be seen on Let It Die, along with covers of Broken Social Scene and the Kinks. She’s a little more “quiet and tame” than she normally would be live, lending everything an delicate, acoustic feel. The whole thing sounds like a very intimate affair, with Feist fumbling for words between songs, and the audience suitably hushed during songs. Since you stand almost no chance of ever being able to buy this album, I think it’s okay to post the whole thing. These songs came as a nice little surprise to me this boring weekend, and I hope you enjoy them as much as I did.
06. Let It Die & Lonely Lonely
Feist | The Reminder
While I liked Let It Die, I wasn’t really a Feist fan. She had some great songs, sure, but I was too annoyed with the lack of original material on Let It Die to be really excited about her. So, my expectations for The Reminder were modest; I was expecting something the same level as Let It Die. So when I heard The Reminder for the first time, about two months ago, I couldn’t have been more astounded.
It simply leaves her previous two albums looking like amateurish messes. And really they were, at least by the new standards Feist has set with The Reminder. It’s that obscenely good. Every element she’s ever experimented with – folk-rock, lounge jazz, rock, pop, and dance – all come together beautifully here; There’s not a single bad track on the entire album.
If those elements are the ice cream, hot fudge, and whipped cream of The Reminder, Feist herself is the cherry on top; the perfect addition to an already great mix. Her voice is one of the best in modern music; so full and rich, yet capable of such quiet delicateness when neccessary. If a 193’0s jazz singer time-traveled to 2007, this is exactly what she’d sound like.
This is a must buy album for 2007, right up there with Panda Bear and LCD. It’s Feist’s defining album, and will likely be her masterpiece, the reason why she’ll be remembered. Every bit of promise she’s ever shown comes to fruition on this album. There’s simply no excuse for not buying this album.
B-Sides | Feist
For your listening pleasure, eight Fesit b-sides. Some are from Open Season, and some are from the red demos, but they’re all good. The most interesting, however, is easily Feist’s cover of Peaches’, her best friend’s, ‘Lovertits’. It unlike anything we’ve ever heard from Feist before, all electro beats and suggestive lyrics. But, that’s what Peaches is all about, eh? It does manage to lose some of the dirt from Peaches version, and Feist’s full vocals suit the song surprisingly well. Long live Peaches and Feist collabs!
Feist – Intuition (Red Demos).mp3
Feist – Leisure Suite(Red Demos).mp3
Fiest – Lovertits (Peaches Cover).mp3
Feist – Mushaboom (Red Demos).mp3
SC Best Of 4/1
People have been pestering me to make a weekly playlist for a while now, so here it is; the best music post on SC over the past week.Yeah, it’s imperfect, but things will get better. Now the only days of the week I don’t have features for are Thursday and Saturday. Any suggestions?
Dept. Of Eagles – No One Does It Like You.mp3
Marylin Monroe – Happy Birthday Mr. President.mp3
Technorati Tags: 23, Animal Collective, Bjork, b-sides, Covers, Department Of Eagles, Feist, Marylin Monroe, mp3s, Rivers Cuomo, The Reminder
Videos | The Shins & Feist
Since I don’t get around to checking Google Reader half as much as I should. it turns out I’ve missed at least two good videos over the past few days. The first is The Shins ‘Australia’, and the second is Feist’s ‘1 2 3 4’. Each possesses it’s own odd charm, whether that charm be of the balloon-stealing nature, or the crazy-glittery-dancing nature.Sure, there’s no Peaches in ‘1 2 3 4’, but maybe that’s a good thing. Enjoy the videos and mp3s.
Technorati Tags: Feist, mp3s, Videos, The Reminder, The Shins, Wincing The Night Away
Remix Roundup 4/9: Bjork, Feist, and Justice
Todays set of remixes are a fair bit more schizophrenic than usual, but I think that’s a good thing. I just found so many good remixes yesterday that I couldn’t bear to leave some of them out. My favorite of the eight is the Justice remix of Franz Ferdinand’s ‘The Fallen’. It’s a remix in the truest sense, smashing the original into little tiny bits, only rebuild it from the ground up. Enjoy!
Feist – My Moon My Man (Boyz Noise Remix).mp3
Feist – Mushaboom (VV Remix).mp3
Bjork – Bachelorette (RZA Remix).mp3
Bjork – Oceania (Kelis Remix).mp3
Nine Inch Nails – Perfect Drug (Bjork Remix Trent Reznor Remix).mp3
Franz Ferdinand – The Fallen (Justice Remix).mp3
Britney Spears – Me Against The Music (Justice Extended Mix).mp3
Justice Vs. Simian – Never Be Alone.mp3
Technorati Tags: Bjork, Britney Spears, Feist, Franz Ferdinand, Justice, mp3s, Nine Inch Nails, Remixes, Simian Mobile Disco
Remix Roundup: Amy Winehouse, Feist, & LCD Soundsystem
Since I feel a rant coming on, I’ll give you a little break before it comes. So, welcome to the first remix roundup, where I bring together remixes from popular artists. Ideally, I should be able to do this every Monday, but you never can tell. I don’t have much to say about these remixes, except that if you can recognize ‘North American Scum’, you’re a better person than I am.
Amy Winehouse – Rehab (Hot Chip Remix).mp3
Amy Winehouse – You Know I’m No Good (ft. Ghostface Killah).mp3
LCD Soundsystem – Us V Them (Go Home Productions Remix).mp3
LCD Soundsystem – North American Scum (Kris Menace Remix).mp3 (Remove upon request)
Feist – Mushaboom (Postal Service Remix).mp3
Feist – Inside + Out (Apostle Of Hustle Unmix).mp3
Technorati Tags: Remixes, Amy Winehouse, Hot Chip, Ghostface Killah, Feist, Postal Service, Apostle Of Hustle, LCD Soundsystem, Go Home Productions, Kris Menace, mp3s
Feist: The Red Demos
In 2002-2003, after she released Monarch, Feist recorded a set of songs now known as the red demos. While they would all go on to be released on later albums, the Red Demos are still interesting in their production. Essentially, they’re stripped down versions of their later selves. Gone are the jazzy, upbeat elements, replaced by a darker, Cat Power-esque tone. Among the most interesting demos is ‘Leisure Suite’; a name is almost all it shares with the version we know from Let It Die. Also, ‘The Eastern Shore’, while not released on Let It Die, will be present on The Reminder, renamed ‘The Water’. It’s fascinating to see such stark, gloomy versions of songs we know so well.
Shameless Complacency 